The landscape of education is changing constantly!
While disruptions in our world has challenged our perception of “normal” and more than ever school
leaders, and teachers face greater challenges than ever before, not just with the level of education standard but with emotional wellbeing of their students. I have witnessed these challenges so many times in both the teachers and the students while working as a school chaplain.
So what is well – being?
Because well-being touches on so many aspects of life, and because it involves a strong mental/emotional component, well-being is extremely diverse. Just to keep it simple for now, well – being is a sum total of how we perceive our life and our existence in this world.
For a moment let think about when you were selecting apples (or your favorite fruit) to buy at your local store. You are looking for the best skin color, shape, size, freshness and certainly the best tasting ones! But what does this tell us about the tree they were picked from? The wellness of the tree is important, everything the tree need to do, from collecting sunlight through it leaves, absorbing the water and nutrients from the soil, producing the flowers to attract the cross pollinators to then produce the fruit which contain the seed for future procreation.
When you hold the fruit in your hand you are looking at the well-being of the tree, and its sum total purpose for existing. The quality of the apple was a result of its wellness. You would agree that if the apple tree had been growing poor soil or in a very shady area and not getting the correct amount of sunlight, the quality of the apples would not be as great or rated second grade!
Are your kids the apple in your eye?
Whether you are an educator, parent, grandparent or mentor you are taking on a gardener’s role, just as for the apple tree. We all contribute to the wellness of our young adults, from planting, staking, watering, soil improvement, fertilizing as required, weed control, pruning, pest and disease control to correct picking process.
Well-being is a powerful indicator of how things are going, overall wellbeing enhances motivation, decreases disciplinary problems, increases academic achievement, social interaction, improves school satisfaction and leads to flourishing of the individual .Suppressing and withdrawing what is really going on still makes us human. Feeling emotions and know how to manage them is being a real human with a healthy well-being.
How to grow and thrive not just survive!
When it comes to growing plants, we know that when you cultivate most plants in their favorable growing condition, for example growing sunflowers in the shade will not be favorable, then plants will potentially thrive and just survive.
For our young learners this principal also applies. Here are four elements that are essential for their well-being in the growing learning years:
The elephant in our classroom!
Traditional learning in a classroom is a place of structure and routine where we bring the world outside into the room via discussions, books and electronic devices and the amount we learn over our early years is HUGE!
“Let Nature be your teacher. “William Wordsworth
Inspired outdoor learning
Outdoor space such as parks and gardens are the ideal classroom, providing endless opportunities for young learners to learn about the real world.
Collaboration outdoors can improve emotional, intellectual, and behavioral development. Those learning outdoors develop their creativity, problem-solving, independence and confidence. In addition, outdoor learning encourages students to be more well-mannered, tolerant, and polite with each other ... there usually less fighting and more sharing.
Kids learning to garden is more that just growing plants. To garden is to know how to select, arrange and cultivate a plot of land with trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables, herbs, or fruit trees used for recreation, display or food. This knowledge can be acquired from other gardeners, self-education or via experimenting and learning through the trial error. During the process they also develop practical application of math’s ,science and literacy.
Most important, lessons learnt in the garden are about growing as people, practical life skills such as learning responsibility, flexibility, perseverance, gaining problem-solving skills and looking at the world in a different way.
The Kids Can Garden teaching resources are designed to allow young learners to gain knowledge and develop skills through activities and projects set around challenges and problems they face in the real world and journal their progress.
Want to get started with inspired outdoor learning? Head over to what on sales and check out the resources.
Happy outdoor learning!
Denis
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